What happens during a 2nd job interview?

A few days prior to Christmas, I had an interview for a job I REALLY want. The man who interviewed me called me yesterday to set up a 2nd interview.

Since I've never had a 2nd interview for any particular job, I just wanted to ask anyone who has gone through it a series of questions..
- If you're a man, do you typically have to dress up in a suit again for the second interview as you did the first time? Or would casualwear, shirt and tie without a coat, etc. be appropriate?
- In a second interview, do they typically test your skills and competencies?
- What other things might they ask you or expect you to do for a second interview?

- If you're a man, do you typically have to dress up in a suit again for the second interview as you did the first time? Or would casualwear, shirt and tie without a coat, etc. be appropriate?
- In a second interview, do they typically test your skills and competencies?
- What other things might they ask you or expect you to do for a second interview?

First of all, congratulations for making it to the 2nd Interview!

You should dress slightly above the normal dress code for the company. If its casual, dress business casual. If its business casual, dress business. Most interviewers don't generally care if you over dress, but it does have an impact. Under dressing can easily negatively impact your interview.

As for the 2nd interview, it depends on the company. If you were already tested for techincal competance, the 2nd round is usually a meet and greet. Its a chance to see if you would be a good fit with the company as well as if the company would be a good fit with you.

When I worked for boeing, my first interview was a standard touchy-feely set of questions, "When was a time when a project you were in charge of failed to be delivered on time..." etc. The 2nd interview, they wowed and dazzled me with super expensive military flight simulators, as well as tried to better gauge my personality.

When I interviewed for Expedia, the first interview was conducted over the phone; I was asked a series of techincal questions. Then the 2nd interviewd, I was asked some more techincal questions; the typical Microsoft style to interview.

So you can see there is some degree of variation. If you want to know for sure you can ask the person whom scheduled you for the 2nd interview to describe the 2nd interview process, as well as the companies dress policy. Its a fair question to ask, and most interviewers want to give you as much help as possible!

I agree, overdressing for interview wont harm you. I had a third interview in person(the previous two were on phone) and i went in business suit. Although my interviewer was a senior manager in Jeans and cardigens.
But make sure u dont under dress.
For the second interview, if they alreadyhave had tecnical interview before this, they might ask you qstns like. What is your long term goal? How do you define your strengths? Any experience related questions etc etc.. Generally going for a second interview(and a second date) means they are interested and they would try to talk about their company, practice, growth etc.
Be confident and relaxed, answer questions in a clear tone , I am sure you will hit the ball out of the ground for a home run.

- In a second interview, do they typically test your skills and competencies?
- What other things might they ask you or expect you to do for a second interview?

The answers to your questions depend a lot on the type of job it is. And I haven't done this kind of thing in a very long while, but when I did, the 2nd interview used to be done because they were still undecided. And probably have narrowed it down to just a few, so you're competing with a just a few others. In that case you're not really in yet. But you may also be called back because they've mostly made their decision to choose you, and just want to introduce to others for a cursory glance. Or maybe they have an agreement with their own boss that no final hiring decision is made without the boss's final stamp of approval. In that case, you're mostly in, but it's still possible that the boss might yet see something that causes him/her to decide to not offer you the job. Sometimes you know which it is just by how they behave, and sometimes you don't know. I used to get a certain feeling from the interviewer when I was still being evaluated and compared, (cool professional, distant). And another feeling for when I was a sure thing and was just back for the cursory walk-through, (very warm greetings from a lot of people, meeting the boss's boss). Sometimes the 2nd interview is a time to make a final salary offer so both sides can think about that for a while. Maybe someone else is also trying for the same job with a different salary requirement. Sometimes the 2nd interviews are to help them determine who among the finalists are the best bang for the buck. And yes, some of the other low-ranking people you meet might factor in the final decision, because they might be the people with whom you'll have to interact if you get the job.

Congratulations on getting the second interview! I was wondering how you had progressed.

I have only had one second interview and it was a meet and greet. I was interviewed jointly by 2 different people from the same company, because the HR person recommended me to different managers of the various departments.

If i were you, i would still dress as best and professionally as possible, and still be really formal with them and well-prepared with your question-answers. Also, have some poignant questions for them, some things that will really blow them away! For example, i interviewed for a market research company and one of the questions i asked was whether they have problems locating their sample units? So think of something that applies to this company, a kind of problem-solution situation, and ask them a question about it that shows you have really thought about a particular issue in their industry. This will raise your value substantially!

Go in there with the attitude that you still have to win them over and stand out above the other candidates.